Rusch, D. (2013). Building on the capacity of community-based organizations to meet the SEL needs of
youth from Latino immigrant families. AERA Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Special Interest Group
(SIG) Fall Newsletter.

Dana Rusch, Ph.D

Visiting Research Assistant Professor

Dr. Rusch has an overarching interest in addressing mental health disparities among ethnic minority youth and families living in urban poverty. Her specific program of research focuses on meeting the mental health needs of youth from Latino immigrant families, with attention to ecological context in the design and implementation of mental health service models. This research aims to build upon community resources and workforce strengths through collaborative partnerships with non-specialty settings (e.g., schools, community-based organizations, after-school programs) and the non-traditional providers that play a critical role in family engagement and advocacy. Through her efforts to design relevant and sustainable mental health services, Dr. Rusch has collaborated with the Chicago Public Schools, the Chicago Park District, and various community-based organizations serving Latino/immigrant families throughout the city.

Dr. Rusch received her B.A. in Psychology from Rutgers University (1999) and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago (2011). She completed her pre-doctoral clinical internship in Child Clinical and Pediatric Psychology at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago (2008-2009) and continued her postdoctoral training at IJR with Dr. Atkins’ team at the Center for Community-Based Children’s Mental Health Research and Policy . From 2009-2013, she also served as Project Director for an NIMH-funded R01 (PI: S. Frazier) that examined the role of organizational social context on children’s mental health promotion through after-school program participation.

Interests:

Mental health services research for children in urban poverty Effective models of community-based mental health services for youth from Latino immigrant families Immigrant family context, acculturative stress, and mental health Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) to build models of mental health promotion for immigrant youth and families

Christopher Holden, MD

Dr. Holden is the Director of Addiction Services in the department. He treats a variety of psychiatric conditions, and he specializes in the treatment of patients with co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders. He works with patients in the outpatient mental health clinic as well as the hospital’s inpatient medical, surgical, and psychiatric units.

Interests:

Dr. Holden believes in taking an integrated approach to the treatment of psychiatric conditions. Patients are most likely to recover from psychiatric and addictive disorders when they are addressed simultaneously, in particular with multiple complementary approaches, which can include medication and psychotherapy. He is published in the fields of addiction medicine and basic biomedical research.

Affiliations/Memberships:

American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry American Society of Addiction Medicine

Meghann Hennelly, MD

Visiting Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry

Dr. Hennelly earned her MD at University of Chicago, completed her psychiatry residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and completed her child psychiatry fellowship at a combined program of Columbia and Cornell Universities. Dr. Hennelly recently joined the Pediatric Stress and Anxiety Disorders Clinic team at UIC and will also be working as Associate Child Residency Training Director.

Monsheel Sodhi B.Pharm, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Dr. Monsheel Sodhi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice, the Department of Psychiatry, the Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology and the Graduate Program in Neuroscience. She is also Director of the UIC Brain Collection. Dr. Sodhi’s laboratory has a longstanding commitment to translate discoveries from molecular neuroscience to improve our understanding and treatment of schizophrenia and mood disorders.

Dr. Sodhi received her degree in Pharmacy at the UCL School of Pharmacy at the University of London (U.K.). She subsequently achieved a Master’s degree in Neuroscience and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the Institute of Psychiatry and Maudsley Hospital at Kings College London. Her postdoctoral training, funded by a Medical Research Council training fellowship, was in Molecular Pathology at the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford University, and in Molecular Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2011, she was a faculty member of the Department of Psychiatry and Comprehensive Neuroscience Center at UAB.

Dr. Sodhi has received two young investigator awards from the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression, an award from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and a young investigator award from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. She has also received Scholar’s Awards from the Health Services Foundation and the Hans W. Vahlteich Research Fund. Dr. Sodhi has over 15 years’ experience in the field of molecular neuroscience, including published work in the Lancet, Molecular Psychiatry, Molecular Pharmacology and Biological Psychiatry. She serves on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Addiction and Neuropharmacology and the Austin Journal of Pharmacology & Therapeutics and as a member of the Tissue Review Panel of the NSW Brain Bank.

Dr. Michael Schrift is the Director of Behavioral Neurology & Neuropsychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at UIC. His primary responsibilities include the faciliatation, organization and development of clinical, educational, and training in Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry at UIC. He completed fellowship training in Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Neurology and has been involved in the academic teaching of this subject area to medical students, psychiatry and neurology residents and fellows for over 25 years. In addition, Dr. Schrift has graduate training in Neuropsychology and in Bioethics in which he hold a master's degree and has is an Adjunct Associate Professor appointment in Bioethics and Health Policy at the Medical College of Wisconsin where he teaches Neurothics. His clinical duties include actively participating in and administering in outpatient, inpatient and consultative Neuropsychiatry services at the University Medical Center. The program is integrated with the research activities of the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology as well as Radiology. Dr. Schrift is the Course Director for the M1 Brain and Behavior Course. The teaching and training of medical students, residents in neurology and psychiatry, fellows, and post-doctoral psychologists is central to his duties and responsibilities.